My name is Petra Tekavec. I consider myself a worldly citizen, not belonging to any specific place, but relating to fellow human beings without cultural or language boundaries. I believe we are all similar deep down and bestowed with comparable challenges and questions as to how to find a secure, fulfilling and stable life.

Our experiences shape us, we are in a constant process of transformation and need to re-establish our grounds, and the only way to do that is to relinquish that which no longer serves us and adopt a new way of being. As an example, I would like to share with you my story:

I studied, lived and worked in various countries (USA & Europe) for 50% of my adult life, have an Asian-European partner and two lovely children. My last four years of living in France have been the most challenging of all the years spent abroad. I didn’t speak much French upon my arrival, was pregnant with a second child, had no social support close by and no prospects of work. I was used to adapting to another culture and building my social network, but there were more aspects in my life that didn’t function. I have always worked on myself, since my teenage years when I came upon meditation, later through the study of psychology, but this time, I felt I had to question the core foundations of my cognitive–emotional–behavioural patterns which obstructed me and thus needed to be reviewed and transformed. I had been peeling layer by layer of my personality, demolishing and rebuilding from the ground up a new base of internal security and replaced ‘the no longer serving its purpose patterns’ with those that facilitate inner strength, confidence, authentic connection with self and others, and to harness my potential.

This experience taught me many things about how to form and rely on innate resources and help oneself in a difficult life situation. Life is composed of multiple transitions, losses and new situations, and I am certain that if we know ourselves and have solid foundations, we can adapt to and pass through these events faster and emotionally easier. We will be able to tap into our resources, stay calm at the core of the self and thereby limit the impact of turbulences.

Besides my personal experience, I hold a Master’s degree in Psychological Counseling from Columbia University and am a Certified International Integrative Psychotherapist. I am passionate about understanding human nature and through self-analysis, personal psychotherapy, reading various literature and executing psychotherapy with clients, new insights are born.

In my blog, I therefore want to share my insights, thoughts, tools and techniques with you, so you can use them on yourself. I know that many people might view psychotherapy as dedicated to those with ‘serious’ problems or even mental diagnoses. I truly don’t agree with this. It is just a method for self-exploration and the therapist is a person who guides you through it. If you prefer to call this person a coach, spiritual guide or counselor, you can. Just don’t let the preconceived beliefs obstruct you from taking what you find could be useful for you. Personal development is an ongoing process for all of us, therefore, let’s lay the quality foundations and equip ourselves with self-knowledge to travel through our lives with less falls and hurts. Likewise, why not be happier, freer, more self-assured, authentic and forge our paths towards abundance and fulfillment!

The purpose of my blog is to become your guide for exploring, understanding and growing. Furthermore, "we all have the right and possibility to be happy" and to grow one's self-knowledge is the road to it. Thereby "I named my blog HAPPINESS MANAGEMENT". The key words of my approach are explore–understand–evolve which are at the same time, how I see it, also the three steps of the inner transformation process. First, you need to dive into getting to know yourself, which is why I call it the exploration phase, in the next step you will start to understand your functioning connected to a certain subject, and lastly, you will evolve and be able to actualise the change. And how to carry out change? You will need to wholeheartedly decide on it, be motivated, execute it consciously with self-monitoring and along the way be persistent and not give up!

I could be writing about numerous things, but to stay within my realm of interest and ideas, I will concentrate on three main content sections (so far) that my blog will cover:

1. Personal growth and development

Its mission is to help you explore, understand and perform a deeper transformation of emotional–cognitive–behavioural patterns that limit and block your growth and happiness.

2. Relationship with others

Aims at increasing your awareness of what you bring into interpersonal interactions (repeating interpersonal patterns, triggers and unconstructive behaviour) and thus improving your relations with others – your partner, child, friend and family dynamics.

3. Realise your potential

It’s about developing your potential to the fullest, going beyond your comfort zone into the uncharted area. Living a productive, creative and inspired life, overcoming fear, experimenting with new behaviours, relinquishing the old-self and embracing a new, daring you.

I am truly excited to start this mission and I hope I can serve you in the best possible manner. I intend to delve profoundly into the subject and offer you the insights, methods and knowledge gained from my personal life experience, a more than decade long work experience in psychotherapy and counseling, and my own notions on how to tackle a particular challenge.

Warmly,

Petra Tekavec